OT: Non-Trek Tie Ins discussion thread

[Christopher]

True story: "Forge" was invented, some twenty years ago, because Tor had become so well known for SF/Fantasy that bookstores would sometimes automatically shelve all Tor books in the SF section, even if they were westerns or spy thrillers or historical romances or whatever. It was becoming an issue, so we invented "Forge" for more mainstream titles like, say, "24" tie-in novels.

So you're basically Forging your signature?

 

[JD]

I didn't know that. I'll edit my post to add a note about it.

 

[Greg Cox]

As I recall, there was also an issue with newspapers and magazines automatically sending all Tor books to their science fiction reviewers, even when that wasn't appropriate.

Technically, both "Tor" and "Forge" are imprints of Tom Doherty Associates.

 

[Defcon]

A rather short lived tie in series was Eureka which only ran for three novels. What is interesting about the line is that all novels were credited to the house name "Cris Ramsay". In reality all three books were written by people who have also written Star Trek, Aaron Rosenberg wrote Books One and Three, and Phaedra Weldon wrote Book Two.

Titles:
Substitution Method by Aaron Rosenberg (as Cris Ramsay)

Welcome to Eureka.
Population: BRILLIANT

It's a town of geniuses—and now it's the smartest series going.

Founded by Albert Einstein and Harry Truman after WWII, Eureka is home to the greatest minds in science and technology. But the creations of these eccentric geniuses threaten to destroy the world as often as they save it. Jack Carter is the everyman sheriff who must use his common sense and unique street smarts to keep a lid on this Pandora's Box of a town. Especially now, when Eureka's people, cars, and buildings are being swapped with people, cars and buildings from other places.

Brain Box Blues by Phaedra Weldon (as Cris Ramsay)

Even the brightest of Eureka's residents can't read someone else's mind. Then Global Dynamics develops the Brain Box: a device capable of capturing and storing human thoughts. When the Box starts messing with people's minds, Sheriff Jack Carter will have to keep his thoughts to himself if he's going to save the town from going out of their heads.

Roads Less Traveled by Aaron Rosenberg (as Cris Ramsay)

A Global Dynamics researcher has a breakthrough on her project visualizing another dimension. And since GD's experiments have a bad tendency to affect the entire town, Sheriff Jack Carter heads over to check it out. What he sees blows him away. The project has revealed a parallel universe, complete with another Eureka-one in which Carter doesn't exist! But as the two worlds begin to bleed into each other and residents confront their alternate selves, Carter may be the one man who can keep both Eurekas from being destroyed.

___________

@Greg Cox : Since you are also an editor you maybe have some insight to a question about using house names I have. When I asked Aaron in an interview a couple of years back why they would use a house name, but let the authors openly talk about their involvement, he answered that they “figured it was a marketing decision, so that all three books would show up if you did a search for Cris Ramsay," In your experience, is that the sole reason or are their other considerations in play when using a house name?

 

[Greg Cox]

The practice is not as common as it once was, but, yes, I imagine the main incentive would be to have all the books shelved next to each other on a shelf, rather than have two books shelved under R for Rosenberg and one book shelved under W for Weldon.

Ideally, of course, bookstores would think to shelve all the "Eureka" novels together like they do with the Star Trek or Star Wars novels, but sometimes you need a critical mass of titles before a line of tie-in books can stake out some designated shelf space of their own. With just three titles, that would be a challenge.

I ran into this problem years ago when I edited a line of original ZORRO novels. There were three books by three different authors and they ended up being shelved individually, apart from each other, because there was no designated ZORRO shelf. (And there was also the awkward question of whether Zorro was a superhero book, a western, mainstream fiction or what.)

In retrospect, maybe we should have used a house name on those books.

 

[Defcon]

Thanks for the insight.

So I guess one reason for housenames to become more uncommon is the decline of physical bookstores?

 

[DimesDan]

I remember reading a Quantum Leap book years ago and rather enjoying it, I can't remember the name of it but Sam jumped into a young adult in Albuquerque.

 

[Greg Cox]

Thanks for the insight.

So I guess one reason for housenames to become more uncommon is the decline of physical bookstores?

Possibly, but it was kinda old-fashioned even when I started in the biz, some twenty years ago, although I think it's still more common in YA publishing. Think Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, etc.

An odd example: the adult ALIAS novels all listed "J.J. Abrams" as the author on the spine, although the actual authors' names were on the front cover. As it was explained to me, the idea was to get all the ALIAS novels shelved under "A" for Abrams--and ALIAS.

 

[Defcon]

So here is a little Upcoming titles list of TV series tie-ins :

The Flash

• The Haunting of Barry Allen by Susan Griffith and Clay Griffith - November 2016
  
• Novel 2 by TBA - May 2017

Castle

• High Heat by "Richard Castle" - October 2016
  
• Heat Storm by "Richard Castle" - May 2017

The Librarians

• The Librarians and The Lost Lamp by @Greg Cox - October 2016
  
  
• The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by @Greg Cox - April 2017

Gotham

• Dawn of Darkness by Jason Starr - January 2017
  
  
• Novel 2 by TBA - April 2017

Supernatural

• The Usual Sacrifices by Yvonne Navarro - March 2017

NCIS: New Orleans

• Novel 1 by Jeff Mariotte - March 2017

Arrow

• Novel 2 by TBA - March 2017

The Blacklist

• The Beekeeper No. 159 by Steven Piziks - November 2016
  
• The Dead Ring No. 166 by Jon McGoran - March 2017
• Novel 3 by TBA - November 2017

Charmed

• Social Medium by Pat Shand - January 2017

Ghost Whisperer

• Novel 2 by TBA - January 2017
  
• Novel 3 by TBA - January 2017

Xena

• Xena Scroll One: The Lost Voyage of Xena by Jeff Mariotte & Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell - January 2017
  
• Xena Scroll Two: The Lost Voyage of Xena by Jeff Mariotte & Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell - January 2017
  
• Xena Scroll Three: The Lost Voyage of Xena by Jeff Mariotte & Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell - January 2017

Hercules

• The Legendary Journeys, Book One by TBA - January 2017
• The Legendary Journeys, Book Two by TBA - January 2017

Murder, She Wrote

• Hook, Line and Murder by "Jessica Fletcher", Donald Bain & Renee Paley-Bain - December 2016

NCIS Los Angeles

• Bolthole by Jeff Mariotte - November 2016

X-Files

• Secret Agendas by Jonathan Maberry (Editor; anthology with stories by stories by Andy Mangels, Bryan Thomas Schmidtt & Kate Corcino, George Ivanoff, Jade Shamess, Jeff Mariotte & Marsheila Rockwell, Jim Beard, Joe Harris, JT Gilstrap, Lauren A. Forry, Lois H. Gresh, Lucy A. Snyder, Nancy Holder, Ryan Cady, Weston Ochse, and Yvonne Navarro) - October 2016

NOTE: This most likely is nowhere complete, just what I'm aware off (it's mostly from Amazon listings); I know there is no real order in it, since I did this on a whim and it was mostly just me writing down the series and then checking the dates etc. For future versions I will think of a format (most likely alphabetically by series).

 

[JD]

Warehouse 13
As far as I know there has only been one W13 novel, published by Simon & Schuster in July 2011.
A Touch of Fever by @Greg Cox
EDIT: I added links to my post about The Librarians books also. I'll the ones for the 24 books later.
Monk, Pysch, Burn Notice, and Elementary have also had tie ins, but I don't have time to list them all right now.
So is the lack of tie ins for the original NCIS due to Bellisario's rule against tie ins? I don't remember the details, but I remember somebody saying Bellisario refused to allow tie ins to his shows after he was unhappy with some Quantum Leap books.

 

[Defcon]

So is the lack of tie ins for the original NCIS due to Bellisario's rule against tie ins? I don't remember the details, but I remember somebody saying Bellisario refused to allow tie ins to his shows after he was unhappy with some Quantum Leap books.

That is the leading theory as far as I am aware.

So what is the better option for the upcoming books list?

Alphabetically

or by Date:

 

[Greg Cox]

Warehouse 13
As far as I know there has only been one W13 novel, published by Simon & Schuster in July 2011.
A Touch of Fever by @Greg Cox

Yep, there was only one WH13 novel, although there were also some comic books.

 

[Thrawn]

Alphabetically.

 

[Defcon]

October's releases:

Castle: High Heat
by "Richard Castle"

Blurb:
An ISIS-style beheading of a journalist, carried out by a New York City group pledging fealty to that rogue state, becomes more than just another case for NYPD Captain Nikki Heat when the killers announce their next target: her husband, magazine writer Jameson Rook. Meanwhile, Heat is haunted by a fleeting glimpse of someone she swears is her mother... a woman who has been dead for nearly twenty years.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Librarians: The Librarians and the Lost Lamp
by Greg Cox

Blurb:
For millennia, the Librarians have secretly protected the world by keeping watch over dangerous magical relics. Cataloging and safeguarding everything from Excalibur to Pandora s Box, they stand between humanity and those who would use the relics for evil."

Ten years ago, only Flynn Carsen, the last of the Librarians, stood against an ancient criminal organization known as The Forty. They stole the oldest known copy of "The Arabian Nights" by Scheherazade, and Flynn fears they intend to steal Aladdin s fabled lamp. He races to find it first before they can unleash the trapped, malevolent djinn upon the world.

Today, Flynn is no longer alone. A new team of inexperienced Librarians, led by Eve Baird, their tough-as-nails Guardian, investigates an uncanny mystery in Las Vegas. A mystery tied closely to Flynn s original quest to find the lost lamp. . . and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.


____________________________________________________________________________________________________

X-Files: Secret Agendas
by Jonathan Maberry (Editor; anthology with stories by Andy Mangels, Bryan Thomas Schmidtt & Kate Corcino, George Ivanoff, Jade Shamess, Jeff Mariotte & Marsheila Rockwell, Jim Beard, Joe Harris, JT Gilstrap, Lauren A. Forry, Lois H. Gresh, Lucy A. Snyder, Nancy Holder, Ryan Cady, Weston Ochse, and Yvonne Navarro)

Blurb:
The truth is still out there! FBI Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder go hunting in the shadows for dangerous truths in this new collection of original never-before-published tales of the X-Files. Edited by NY Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry and featuring heart-stopping stories by some of today’s hottest writers of mystery, thriller, science fiction and horror.

 

[Defcon]

Warehouse 13
As far as I know there has only been one W13 novel, published by Simon & Schuster in July 2011.
A Touch of Fever by @Greg Cox

I conducted an interview with Greg for Unreality SF when the book came out.

Warehouse 13 related excerpt :
Greg Cox is a veteran in the book publishing industry who has fulfilled many different roles over the decades – writing back cover blurbs, working as an editor and writing books himself. But that he is a tie-in writer at heart shows itself when he is watching new TV shows. “It’s pretty much impossible to watch a new show without thinking about the book possibilities!” he laughs. “That’s just how a tie-in writer’s mind works.” And that’s what led him to writing the very first Warehouse 13 novel A Touch of Fever, too. “I’ve been watching the show religiously since Episode One,” he smiles. “In fact, I remember I started thinking about what kind of artefacts I would want to put in a Warehouse 13 book while watching that first ep, long before I ever knew this was a possibility. Imagine my excitement when, several months later, Jen Heddle at Pocket Books asked if, hypothetically, I would be interested in writing a Warehouse 13 book for them. ‘Hell, yes!’”

The end result, the novel A Touch of Fever, has just been released and is “a standalone Warehouse 13 adventure set roughly around the time of the second season. To be honest, I didn’t worry too much about trying to pin it down to a specific point in time. It could take place almost any time – kind of like the Christmas episode. There are plenty of artefacts involved, but, without giving too much away, the main plot involves a pair of gloves that seem to be able to spread and/or heal disease.

“While Pete and Myka are out in the field, Artie and Claudia (and Leena) have their own B-plot to deal with back at the Warehouse. I even managed to work in Mrs Frederic and the doctor character played by Lindsey Wagner.” Greg promises that fans of every character have something to look forward to, although this proved to be challenging for some characters. “You can’t just write normal dialogue for Claudia. You have to translate it into ‘Claudia-speak’, which is a challenge but a fun one. And it’s always great to write a character who is so full of energy and enthusiasm.” He adds that Leena was “probably the trickiest character to write, since we know so little about her at this point. Heck, we don’t even even know her last name yet!”

Juggling the different Warehouse characters, the thought of using the character Douglas Fargo from Eureka – who was a guest on Warehouse 13 – “never occurred” to Greg. “Given that this was the first Warehouse 13 novel, I think it was better to focus on our regulars instead of squeezing in guest stars from other series. I had my hands full with Pete and Myka and Artie and Claudia and the rest!”

But getting the characters right isn’t the only challenge when writing a tie-in novel. When you write for a show that is still running strong, there’s always the chance that something in the book will be contradicted by a TV episode during the writing process How did they try to minimise that possibility with A Touch of Fever? “I had two long conference calls with the writing staff of the show, who also helpfully reviewed multiple drafts of the outline,” Greg explains. But even such a relatively tight working relationship with the staff of the show can’t prevent everything. “Even still, I kept coming up with ideas that, alas, were already in the works, which meant I had to go back to the drawing board a few times. (Goodbye, Lizzie Borden. Farewell, Rasputin.) On the positive side, I guess that means I was definitely on the right wavelength!”

Whether there will be more Warehouse 13 novels beyond A Touch of Fever is pretty much dependent on how this novel performs – “we’re taking these one book at a time at the moment,” Greg says. He “would love to write more Warehouse 13 books” though, and is certainly prepared for writing more. “Before I even started writing the first book, I filled up two pages of a yellow legal pad with ideas for artefacts.” he reveals. “I managed to get a lot of them into the first book, but I saved a few for the future, just in case! And, of course, I would also kill to write an H.G. Wells novel if she ends up getting her own show, which is apparently a possibility. I could have a lot of fun writing Helena back in the days of Warehouse 12.”
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I quite liked the book, and it's sad that the sales presumably didn't warrant more.

 

[Thrawn]

Should Star Wars be included in this thread?

 

[Jinn]

Should Star Wars be included in this thread?

Nope:

I'll leave the big elephants in the room out of the picture for now (like Doctor Who and Star Wars, which rival Star Trek in the vastness of their tie in lines) and start with a series that has a relatively long history by now, but probably is flying a bit under the radar:

 

[Thrawn]

Cool.

 

[ATimson]

So here is a little Upcoming titles list of TV series tie-ins :

The Flash

• The Haunting of Barry Allen by Susan Griffith and Clay Griffith - November 2016
  
• Novel 2 by TBA - May 2017

...

Arrow

• Novel 2 by TBA - March 2017

I know the Griffiths are writing an Arrow novel that's a sequel to their Flash one, although I don't know if that's actually the March one or not.

 

[JD]

Green Arrow appears in the first The Flash book, so I think they might be a crossover story.